Fallout Equestria: The Ashlands Timeline

Date: Tuesday 11/22/2287
POV: Mercury Shine
Unicornian Territory

As the three ran towards the explosive sound, there was a patrol ahead, four unicorns in Unicornian armor. They had taken cover behind a shattered wall, and it was unclear what from. When they saw movement towards them, they all turned their guns towards the approaching ponies. Mercury and Figment immediately lowered their weapons and raised their front hooves, Mercury pointing at her horn to make sure they noticed she wasn’t one of their acceptable targets. Crimson however kept trotting forward as if nothing was amiss.

“Hold it,” Crimson called out. “We got an appointment. I'm Minister Crimson Prose.”

“Then, Miss Prose,” sneered an armored unicorn stallion. “Perhaps you'd like to get down!”

“I can’t dance for horse apples,” said Crimson. “So I'll lay seductively next to you instead.”

Crimson moved to flop next to one of them, rolling over onto her back and looking up at him with a grin. She wasn't doing a great job of being sexy other than having her legs spread, not with that psychotic face, but the stallion still looked about her south end.

“Hmmph, you’ve always been weird,” the guard grunted, then turned towards the others. “I'm Silver Measure. The other stallion here is Wishful Ward. These two mares are Mythic Dawn and Vengeful Curse.”

Mercury and Figment ducked near where Crimson had haphazardly sprawled out. The way Measure spoke, it was like he knew Crimson already.

“You know me too well,” Crimson sighed. “Neat though, you're still alive. Is that new armor though? Looks… nice? Tolerable at least.”

“Um, I'm Mercury Shine and this is um...” Mercury stammered.

“Steel Anvil,” Figment finished for her, thankfully.

“Right, the gift,” Measure glanced, but shook his head. “I never understand the logic of a stallion wanting to be in a harem, no matter who heads it. Regardless, the Princess got impatient for you and moved up the appointment to asap, so we were sent to escort you. As you can see we ran into issues.”

“Oh, wow,” blushed Figment. “Thanks.”

“That explains why you’re out here,” Crimson tapped her chin but stayed sprawled, glancing to Mercury. “He’s more of an administrative head, I don’t think he’d intentionally enter combat.”

“A peaceful city like Unicornia only needs an administrative head for the guard,” grunted Measure, a leg twitching as if barely resisting giving Crimson a smack.

“Are these raiders?” asked Mercury. “They must be brave or stupid to camp near Unicornia.”

“Please,” Measure rolled his eyes. “As if raiders would show their faces here. We've got a power-armored piss breather on our hooves. We have a teleport dampener so he can’t pop out, and it looks like the stealth on his armor isn’t functioning either, but that won’t stop one from being a huge pain in the plot.”

“I'm sorry,” said Mercury. “Piss breather?”

“He means sea pony,” Crimson said. “Because they piss in the same water they breathe. Clever, right? Sorry, Platinum’s Lesser, they've never had the displeasure of encountering those, so they’re not up on the slurs.”

“Cute,” grunted Measure. “You remember the dumb nickname you gave me after all these years.”

“He hates being under a mare,” Crimson chuckled. “He never says it outright, but I got the idea after a few conversations.”

“Don’t be foolish,” Measure growled. “I was simply offended at your preposterous all-mare stable, as was the Princess.”

“So you know each other?” Mercury asked.

“He was General last I spoke to them too,” said Crimson. “He probably has a soul gem. Good news for you though, Steel. The Princess must think you’re one hot slice of dick to send this guy to escort you.”

“All important citizens have soul gems now, yes,” said Measure. “We were surprised to see you alive though, soul gem or not.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” shrugged Crimson. “We survived the attack, but lost our communications array in the process with no spare parts to fix it. Now… I’m not exactly on good terms with Stable 27, since Midnight attacked and took it over. You probably heard that on the news.”

“What are the um... sea scum up to?” asked Figment. “Isn’t it surprising they're this far inland?”

“Terrorist activities, no doubt,” said Measure. “The one’s barricaded in this building. We’ve already rid the world of its friends. I wanted to get it done with an air strike, but was ordered to take at least one in for questioning.” He shook his head. “They've been more bold lately, even ransacking a village near here. It’s probably a reason she wanted to have you escorted.”

“Hm,” said Mercury. “No knock out gas or anything?”

“We have that,” said Measure. “But it won’t get through the bastard’s power armor, obviously. We think he's low on ammo, saving fire until we get closer and he can get a better shot; then he’ll probably activate the self-destruct on his power armor once he's sure it will take some of us with him. These piss breathers are assholes of the highest degree.”

“Oh of course, sorry,” Mercury probably should have realized that sea ponies weren't flopping about on land without an encasement. “Though I actually have something that might help with that.”

“I doubt that,” Measure didn’t even look to see what she was offering at first.

“Um, my telesyringer,” Mercury pulled her weapon out again, showing it while careful not to point it at any of them. “It teleports the payload and can punch it right through the thickest armor or even a wall if they're against it. I'll just load in a sleeping dart.”

“Interesting,” Measure admitted. “Quite intuitive, though I’m sure you’re not the one that made it. Perhaps we should look into a similar design.” They no doubt could, though it was interesting that a group that considered themselves the master race hadn't thought to. Perhaps they took the more brute force route with technology.

Mercury fumbled as she reloaded the canister, locking in a sleeping dart instead. Of course, now she had to get a shot at their power armored foe, which wouldn’t be easy. She pulled up her pipbuck to see if it showed where he was, and found the bright red dot that represented him near one of the front windows. The Unicornian soldiers were yellow on her pipbuck, and there were several other yellow signals around the building, surrounding their potential prisoner.

Apparently they had them too, as Wishful had one raised watching the signal as well. It was a more advanced looking model, significantly thinner than Mercury's, no thicker than an arm cuff wrapped around their armored leg. The map was projected up above it like a small hologram, not unlike Starlight's model, but the helmet design must have fallen out of favor.

“That's quite an old model,” commented Measure when Mercury pulled up her pipbuck, as if the shoddy technology disgusted him. “Unfortunately, he has one too, so will see the moment we change our position.”

“Does it show elevation?” asked Crimson. “His, I mean.”

“Hard to say,” said Measure. “Sea scum use models not much more advanced than yours, so not unless he stole one of ours.”

Mercury sighed. If Starlight was with them out here and still had her magic, she could have used a signal switching spell to trick the readings on the sea pony's pipbuck. But that was a rather mana-intensive spell; if any of these guards had that much magical power, they wouldn’t be using guns.

Then again, did she really want to help them? She was certain that the Unicornians were the 'bad guys' of any conflict with another race. Yet at the same time, they couldn't defend the sea pony if their mission was going to be a success, and assisting might increase their chances with Princess Platinum. It wasn't like he was going to escape anyway; this would just make sure he wasn’t killed.

“It looks like he's up against the wall,” said Mercury. “Not sure if it’ll go through both the wall and armor, but...”

“Worth a shot,” Measure said blankly. “I just want to get this done so we can head back, honestly.”

Mercury found a gap in the wall they were all hiding behind, very carefully looking through it as she raised her syringer. She watched to make sure she didn't see movement from the window as she aimed at the wall next to the window where the sea pony should be. She fired, the dart sticking against the wall and glowing momentarily as it delivered its payload.

“Did it work?” Figment asked.

“I don't know,” Mercury said, looking at her pipbuck. He hadn't moved, at least.

Crimson stood up and slid next to Mercury, peering at the window herself. She picked up a rock with her telekinesis, tossing it hard at the window and crashing through it. The blip on the pipbuck didn't move.

“Excellent,” Measure grinned. “The fool would have mistaken that for a bomb and dove for cover if he were awake.” Though he’d probably be complementing the same instinct if a unicorn did it. “Good work... go check… um… you, the dart mare.” Apparently she wasn’t important enough for him to remember her name.

Mercury gulped. They would ask her to go check, since as far as everypony else here was concerned, she was the most expendable. She took a deep breath, loading a second sleep dart into her syringer before carefully creeping out from behind the wall. She watched her pipbuck carefully as she approached, watching for movement.

As she got closer and there wasn't any, she relaxed. She crept to the window, peering in and spotting the dim outline of the power armor in the darkness sprawled out on the floor. She fired the second sleep dart against the armor to keep him down in case the first was wearing off, then waved at the unicorns and moved towards the front door.

Lighting her horn, she got a better look at the prone form. The armor encased them, with mechanical hind legs and metal front legs that probably contained the pony's hooves within, mechanical claws on the end of each. The rest was covered with dirt-colored armored plating, though it was dented from use. The previous emblem had been rubbed off and replaced with one of a large cracked pearl with a sea pony circling around it.

“Awesome,” Measure’s voice behind her made Mercury jump. “It's as hard as Platinum’s stomping boots to take these bastards alive. Between this and that buck toy you’re giving her, the Princess is definitely going to like you.”

“Great!” Crimson said behind him. “We can get going then, since I assume you're not going to stop and let me torture the fish.”

“Don't worry,” said Measure, not taking Crimson’s statement as sarcasm as many would, and clearly thinking it acceptable. “Our interrogators will make this bastard suffer more than enough before we make him into sushi. The nerve of these things... you know they don't even just attack unicorns? They attack all land creatures indiscriminately, bucking racists. Weactually care for the sea ponies in Unicornia, giving them food and shelter way nicer than livestock need.”

Mercury peered at him to discern if that was a joke, but the stallion said it with a serious face.

“The nerve,” tsked Crimson. “Thinking they're the master race when they aren't unicorns.”

“Exactly,” nodded Measure.

Even when Crimson had her best sarcastic smirk on, this guy didn’t seem to realize she was joking. Mercury supposed she couldn't expect higher intelligence from a group that made the racism of most ponies out here seem minor. It was a miracle they got so advanced with that level of logic, but she supposed they had 200 years unencumbered by war, and probably had found Ministry of Magitech facilities in Manehattan.

Measure approached and clamped an electronic device to the sea pony's power armor, which made a sound like a generator powering down as it deactivated. Taking a step back, Measure used his telekinesis to pull open the frame, the sea water that kept the occupant moist pouring out as he did so.

He pried out the occupant as roughly as possible, carrying them and the power armor separately as they returned outside. The occupant was a dark blue sea pony with a frilly white mane and fin with lighter blue highlights around the edges. He had wings that looked similar to changeling wings, fairy-like in nature, though Mercury supposed they were more like fins when on a sea pony. They were the same color as his coat but more translucent.

Mercury assumed it was a he at least, since they'd called him one. It was hard to tell with sea ponies since both genders hid their junk behind a dolphin-like slit. She only knew that because Solar had droned on about wanting to buck a sea pony's prehensile penis. Mercury blushed a little at her mind going there in this situation.

“No...” the sea pony stirred slightly as the sleeping potion wore off, blinking bright green eyes. He struggled only a moment, flopping about mid-air, before going limp at the realization that he was out of his armor and held in a magical grasp. “And I'm captured by crawlers... just my fucking luck...”

“Huh, they say 'fuck', like griffons,” smirked Crimson. “Though I guess they don't have enough legs for proper bucking. What do you even do? Wrap around one another like snakes?”

“Shut the fuck up,” the sea pony sighed.

“They say it a lot, apparently!” nodded Crimson.

They walked to a large metallic craft that Mercury assumed was what they had been traveling in when they were shot at by sea ponies. There was some damage to the underside of the steel fuselage, and one of the wings was warped and twisted by incoming fire. The other wing was intact, featuring a swiveling propeller, which would normally be matched on the other side.

The craft wouldn't fly now, but tank treads had folded out from the bottom, so it looked like they could still travel back to Unicornia with it. That was a good thing, because it wouldn't have been easy to carry that power armor the whole way.

There was enough room inside for all twelve of the unicorns that had been surrounding the building as well as Mercury, Crimson, and 'Steel Anvil'. The sea pony armor and occupant were dropped onto the floor, cable used to restrain his front hooves and tail into one bundle. He growled to himself and refused to make eye contact with anyone.

“This is an interesting craft,” Mercury commented as one unicorn moved to the front of the craft and pulled on some controls to start it moving.

“It's one of our unibirds,” explained Measure, chest out as he spoke of their technological superiority. “Since we're not out here bludgeoning each other like Midnight and Trinity, we've been able to develop quite a force. So you don’t have to worry; no lesser race will ever get the drop on us, and the non-unicorns outside will be killed from their own stupidity eventually.”

“Oh, um,” Mercury stammered. “What a relief.”

“Thank horn for that,” Crimson said. “Did you know my wife that I left my stable with was replaced by a changeling? I actually bucked that thing without knowing what it was, talk about disgusting.”

“Truly?” Measure looked like he might vomit. “Terrible! Is there nothing non-unicorns will not sink to?”

Mercury sighed, thankful to Crimson for drawing his attention away from her. She let Crimson exaggerate to him for a while so she wouldn't have to talk. Instead, she looked down at the sea pony.

He'd awoken and they hadn't bothered to gag him, but he still didn't speak. His eyes moved to Mercury when she looked at him, pure hatred etched on his face.

“What's your name?” Mercury asked quietly as Crimson loudly carried on at the others.

“Why do you care?” the sea pony spit out, but then groaned. “Sea Blitz.”

“I’m sorry,” sighed Mercury, unable to keep from apologizing and lucky that none of the others heard her while listening to Crimson and Measure.

Sea Blitz peered at her, confused, then shook his head and turned to stare at the floor. He was breathing heavily, and Mercury wondered if he wasn’t used to breathing with his muzzle. His armor probably had a system to oxygenate and circulate water through his gills, and she hoped being out of the water wasn’t painful for him.

Mercury sighed, looking back out the window of the craft. She could see them growing closer to the domed city, and the ocean behind it. Much of the ocean had a dull green glow to it, as if completely tainted, though the bay itself must have had some kind of filtration system, and she could see a walled area that separated it from the ocean.

She really couldn’t blame sea ponies for being angry if they had to live in that ocean, with the only other choice being to be treated like cattle for whatever components the Unicornians harvested from them.

POV: Crimson Prose
Unicorninan Territory

Did Crimson buck up? It was possible. Taking out Starlight was a risk to be sure. Not because she didn’t think she could get away with it, though; Starlight would have killed Crimson eventually.

It was more because this whole thing made Crimson question herself more than before. Why didn’t she kill Starlight? Sure, even as a broken horn she was more use to them alive, but that never stopped Crimson before. And in this case, it was somepony that deserved death. She’d even stopped tormenting her when Mercury asked, and hadn’t that much to begin with, or at least as much as she was used to tormenting victims.

Whatever. It wasn’t the time to think about that.

Crimson looked forward to seeing the inside of Unicornia, but it quickly became obvious they wouldn’t see much. When the gap in the force field opened, they were led directly into a metallic structure flush with the edge. There, a number of guards stopped the caravan, checking briefly with their Lesser escort before waving them through.

A set of steel gates opened to let them further into the facility. They were huge, at least two hoof-steps thick, and took forever to pull open. On the other side was a long corridor, not unlike the entrance to Ramble, though more metal than stone. It was hard to see what was at the other end, but Crimson’s vision focused on what was just on the other side of the gate.

Oh horse apples. It was an energy field that looked like the one Ramble had stolen and renamed the GRRR. Crimson glanced over to ‘Steel Anvil’ to find that she’d seen it too, and was sweating. Still, it wasn’t like they didn’t know there would be one. She glanced back at Crimson, then nodded and steadied herself, ready to do her best to pretend not to be in pain.

Mercury got the idea too thankfully, she and Crimson standing around Figment to try to hide her inevitable pained expression, and hoping it still failed to detect species as other methods had. When they went through the energy field though, Crimson was surprised at how well she handled it. Her eyes twitched, and she came close to hyperventilating, but she kept herself steady through what must have been agonizing pain for her.

That was kind of hot. Crimson needed to get one of these things.

“Oh, really,” Measure growled as he looked at his pipbuck. He glanced at the three visitors, and for a moment Crimson feared that their system detected Figment, but after a moment he shrugged. “I’ll let her decide, if we must.” He flicked his pipbuck off and turned to face forward again.

Their vehicle drove further down the corridor, which went on for a few hundred more hoofsteps. Crimson assumed that this entrance was specifically for visitors to take them directly to wherever guests were supposed to go and nowhere else.

At the end was a large gate, where their tank stopped. Measure went first, dragging the sea pony and armor behind him. The gate clicked open as he placed a hoof on it, sliding apart and allowing them into the room beyond.

It appeared to be some kind of audience chamber. It was spacious, but probably not enough for it to be the primary throne room. If Crimson had to guess, it was specifically built to intimidate visitors that came to chat. It had gothic columns, a lot of ironwork decorations with sharp edges, and a raised throne on the other side, a full story over the rest of the room.

The royal guards didn’t make it less intimidating. They dressed in dark red armor with the Unicornian crest on the chest plate, shaped like a unicorn head of course. They stood on outcroppings along the wall another floor higher than the throne, all wielding high powered rifles, possibly energy weapons of some kind, which they kept trained on the unarmed visitors.

The self-styled Princess Platinum sat upon the throne, an obsidian seat that couldn’t have been very comfortable. She sat on it with overdone posture, staring down at them. She looked as Crimson remembered, a light pink pony with silvery curls and deep red eyes. She wore a royal purple cape with fluffy white lining, an iron chest plate, and iron gauntlets on each hoof. Her crown had jagged spikes with purple gems inset into each plate.

Crimson always thought it was pathetic that she magically dyed herself to look like a historical figure, though she always was a bit prissy and dramatic even before the megaspells hit. She’d even dyed over her normal cutie mark of three gems with a scepter mark.

Though she wasn’t racist back then. Well, maybe against dragons and non-pony races, but that wasn’t much different than usual. A lot could happen after 200 years with this crowd, she supposed.

Crimson would keep her past identity under wraps though; the last thing she needed was everypony realizing that Platinum was the former Minister of Morale. She was sure Starlight and possibly other relics would remember that Crimson had been on good terms with her. Many had suspected they were bucking, and while Platinum was too straight for that to have happened, it might put undue suspicion on Crimson with certain factions.

Platinum peered down at the three as they entered, surrounded by their escort. Measure passed Sea Blitz on to another pony, who carried the sea pony and his armor back to who-knew-where to be tortured, a sight that Crimson would sadly miss. Maybe Figment would see and fill her in on the juicy details later. Platinum ignored this, no doubt having been informed of that arrival, but more concerned with the group.

“So it really is you, Minister Prose,” Platinum smirked, her voice booming with each word. “It’s been a long time, but I thought Minister Starlight was supposed to be speaking for your group. Where is she?”

Crimson bowed, though she only remembered to after seeing her companions and the guards bow as well.

“Nice to see you too, your Majesty,” Crimson avoided smirking back and put on her best look of fake concern instead. “I fear Starlight has fallen victim to a vicious attack by… inferiors. Mud pony raiders caught her unawares and ponynapped her. We did rescue her, but they… extracted her horn. Not just cut off, but literally pulled it out by the roots. She won’t be in any shape to speak for some time.”

“Monsters,” said Platinum, voice dripping with venom. “Will our inferiors stop at nothing to drag us down to their level?”

“Not any time soon, sadly,” Crimson played along, similar to how she did when speaking to her all those years ago. “Anyway, I have been chosen in her stead since me and you have… history.”

“Indeed we do,” said Platinum, frowning a moment, ears half-flattening before returning, as if not wanting to remember her previous life. “I’m informed that your communications array was damaged beyond repair; pity, but I’m sure we can network now that you’ve resurfaced.”

“I look forward to it,” Crimson said. “Though I’ll be at Stable 11 now due to the attack on Stable 27.”

“Of course you look forward to it,” Platinum rolled her eyes slightly, but the booming voice didn’t change. “All would cherish an audience with the one destined to bring peace to the world.”

Crimson thought she might have been more suspicious, but she seemed to have developed such a messiah complex that she didn’t even consider that she could be fooled. Instead, she was distracted by their ‘gift’, her face changing to a wide grin as if putting on a new mask. Crimson expected Platinum to come down to take a look at her new toy, but instead Figment glowed sparkling blue as Platinum’s magic picked her up.

Figment squeaked as she lifted off the floor, giving another bow mid flight as Platinum carried her closer to float mid-air in front of her. The pretend stallion didn’t struggle, but shivered violently. It was a good thing that the fear was indistinguishable from nervousness around a potential mate, to most ponies at least.

“P-Princess, it’s an honor to meet you,” Figment stammered.

Platinum ignored her statement for a moment, instead turning her around in mid-air in front of her, getting a look at every angle. She got an extra long look at the rear angle, tilting her upwards to look underneath and licking her lips at what she saw there.

“You really do favor him,” Platinum smiled, her voice quieter for a moment. “No need to be nervous though, darling. I think you’ll fit in well with the rest of my harem, unless they get jealous. A handsome stallion like you will be scoring with me quite a lot, I assure you, so long as you know your place.”

Crimson heard Measure behind them sigh as if Platinum’s demeanor annoyed him, but he didn’t dare complain. Given his demeanor, Crimson was surprised he hadn’t tried to usurp the throne yet. Before arriving, she’d expected him to be dead after trying and failing.

“Oh definitely!” Figment nodded. “I um, definitely know my place, Princess… assuming it’s beneath you… stepping on me maybe?” Figment seemed much less nervous once Platinum triggered her submission fantasies.

“Good,” Platinum lowered her down, dropping her when she was still several hooves off the floor so that she almost collapsed on the hard marble surface. “Are you bisexual? I like my stallions to get a bit faggy with one another for my amusement.”

“Well, I can’t be sure,” blushed Figment, getting into her virgin role. “But I would be anything for a beauty such as yourself.”

Crimson had to wonder if she was working some changeling magic on purpose or by instinct, because Platinum started to look a bit drunk. Or maybe she was just like that. She’d always been a little easy, and including sex as part of a business deal was definitely nothing new to her.

“Good,” Platinum said, the boom returning to her voice. “General Measure, escort Whats-His-Name, my new plaything, to the harem chambers. I’ll have him brought to my bed chambers tonight.” She turned back to Figment. “Nothing beyond kissing with the others until then. Your virginity is mine. Understand?” She added with a bit of disgust. “It’s a crime that such a cutie got so old without losing it, but I won’t argue with the opportunity. Now go.”

“O-of course!” Figment nodded. “I would have it no other way, my Princess! I can’t wait!”

Measure approached Figment gruffly, his blank face making Crimson wonder if the duty offended him. Maybe the Princess knew it did and gave it to him for that reason, for all Crimson knew; she wouldn’t put it past her.

Figment took a step back as if somewhat intimidated. She took a deep breath as Measure pointed her towards the door where Sea Blitz had left through, following behind her as they left.

Crimson got a knot in her stomach, but tried to push it down. These new feelings of concern for those around her made her very uncomfortable. She hoped nothing happened to Figment; it’d be embarrassing to cry over two dead lovers in a row.

“I see that you approve of the gift,” Crimson said. “That’s good. Since you’ve accepted it, we can explain what we...”

“I did not accept him,” said Platinum. “I took him as my own, which I would have done even if he was stupid enough not to be smitten with me. If your request amuses me, I will also fulfill it, but if it doesn’t, I will keep him and send you away. If you’re lucky. Now continue.”

Crimson supposed this moron needed to feel like she was intimidating for this to work. It worked on Mercury, who took a nervous step back, and Crimson pretending that it worked on her by stammering out her next words. Platinum was definitely no Midnight though.

“F-forgive me,” Crimson said. “I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. I’m sure you’ve read the request since we contacted you, and basically that’s all there is to it. We only wish to get a tiny amount of hoofnium, which we will use to trick Screwball in assisting us with our mission to the Ministry of Magitech in Fillidelphia. Once there, we will do our best to destroy the Ministry, which will benefit both you and ourselves.”

“You’re insane,” said Platinum. “You’ve spent too much time around lesser races. You think that your meager technology will do anything but get you killed on such a mission? I don’t suppose that’s my problem though. What you ask is innocuous enough, but will still not come without a cost.”

“Name your desired price, of course,” Crimson bowed and attempted to feed Platinum’s ego more. It was too easy; Platinum probably thought Crimson would do anything in hopes of being invited to live here. “It would be our pleasure to do whatever we can.”

“First,” said Platinum. “We will be lacing the hoofnium with a slow acting drug that we believe will slowly kill a draconequus, but be undetectable until after the fool has helped you.”

“A brilliant idea!” nodded Crimson, but inwardly knew Platinum had spent a few centuries too long in her echo chamber here, falling in love with her own voice and sweet little lies. She believed she could do things no one else could when she was really just a waste factory like everyone else, just a particularly noxious one polluting minds.

Mercury looked nervous, but Crimson wasn’t worried. Platinum was underestimating Screwball, because she couldn’t fathom that even a chaos spirit might be superior to a mortal unicorn. All they’d have to do is tell Screwball about the taint and she could account for it, if it would even work to begin with.

“Of course it is, darling,” said Platinum. “Secondly: Should you survive your insane mission, you will provide us with every piece of information you discover. Agreed?”

“O-of course,” said Crimson. “You show your graciousness in asking so little, and for that you have our thanks, Princess.”

“Very well,” smiled Platinum, then turned to the other guards. “Mythic, provide Minister Prose with what we prepared to give her. Then expel her from this place. I don’t like how she’s staring at my flower.”

Well that was hardly Crimson’s fault. Platinum was on a raised platform sitting on her haunches, but if they got to leave and get this over with quickly, all the better. This couldn’t have gone much more smoothly.

In fact, Crimson would say she did better than Starlight would have, even if it was only because she knew how this one worked. Still, goddesses help Platinum if she harmed one single fur on Figment’s body. Or one single plate on Figment's chitin? Whatever.

Date: Monday 11/21/2287 (a day earlier)
POV: Forgot
Holder

Forgot woke up early to a loud knock on his room’s door, almost falling out of bed at the sudden loud noise. It would take him a long time to break that habit.

He looked beside him in bed, but Dinky wasn’t there. She’d been laying with him as he fell asleep, but never stayed in the room after, instead going to work. Dinky said that Solar had upgraded their energy reactor and now she had to finish work on a city shield powered by it. She was a hard worker, and despite how strange everyone seemed to think he was for shacking up with a tiny dead pony, he felt lucky she’d taken to him.

The knock wasn’t Dinky though, since she had a key. He cautiously got up and looked out the peephole. It was Xander, the creature he now knew was a zebra who took a different kind of interest in him, and Forgot still wasn’t sure why, but he chatted with him fairly often. Still, he didn’t seem dangerous, so Forgot opened the door.

“Ah, hello,” Forgot greeted shyly.

“Forgot,” Xander nodded in return. “May I come in?”

When Forgot nodded and stepped back, Xander entered and closed the door behind him. He walked around behind Forgot, touching the life gem in the back of his neck to check it. Apparently it allowed Xander to know for certain that he wasn’t a changeling, creatures Xander told him a great deal about. He didn’t doubt Xander’s assertions that they were evil, especially when Holder’s resident large changeling Chrysalis shifted into a robot and chased him, only to then cackle maniacally at his distress.

Though he wondered what Xander wanted. He wouldn’t bother checking the gem unless it was important. So far though, most of what they’d talked about had been changelings and Xander asking about how good Forgot’s stealth abilities were. Forgot wasn’t sure how such skills stacked up to a normal pony’s, but he did know that most ponies walked and moved much louder than he did.

“C-can I help you?” Forgot asked, nervously playing with his necklace.

“I have been thinking of talking to you on this for a while,” Xander said. “I have decided I can trust you, but keep this to yourself.”

“Of course,” nodded Forgot. He was mainly happy that there was someone that wanted to rely on him, it made him feel useful.

“I have been working on a gas,” said Xander. “It would immediately reveal any changelings in an area and put them to sleep. I am certain it is safe to use, but Custard doesn’t agree, and we shouldn’t wait for Starlight to return so she can override her.”

“She doesn’t think it’s safe?” Forgot tilted his head. “She seems really nice though.”

“I agree, do not get me wrong,” Xander nodded. “But she is young and does not understand. Unlike us, who know what evils exist and must be stopped.”

“So what would you need?” Forgot asked, shifting about, but it made sense.

“I have become suspicious of a local restaurant owner,” Xander nodded. “After learning he and Chrysalis have sex regularly.”

“I’m pretty sure she does that with a lot of ponies,” Forgot wondered why that mattered. “She kept asking me to, even after I screamed and ran away.”

“Perhaps,” nodded Xander. “However, this is the only one I know for sure. Furthermore, when I asked to test him, he forbade me from entering the building any longer. Now all his workers avoid me, making me suspect they may be changelings too. I have been fairly civil in my demands, so I can think of no reason for their refusal other than my suspicions being correct.”

“Oh, okay,” Forgot nodded, taking the words at face value since he didn’t quite understand. Xander was pretty smart, so he probably knew what he was talking about. “How can I help?”

“I’d like you to sneak a gas bomb into the building tonight,” said Xander. “It’s a harmless gas, it will only transform any changelings into their true form and put everyone to sleep for a few hours. I’d like to have you plant it in the rafters above the main room, so that we can set it off remotely.. Fairly remotely… when the manager is in the main area. Then I could get both him and any of his workers that are out, thus proving my theory. Once proven, I’m sure Custard will allow me to perform interrogations even before Starlight returns.”

“Really?” Forgot wasn’t sure. “Well, I mean, I probably could...”

“Forgot!” Dinky’s voice called from outside the door, suddenly cutting off their conversation.

Dinky unlocked the door and came in on her own. She stopped when she saw that Xander was with him, looking surprised but nodding. He returned the nod but stayed silent.

“Is something wrong?” asked Forgot.

“Midnight is in the market,” Dinky said. “She’s demanding to speak to Chrysalis. I think you said you knew where she’s staying in town?”

“Uh, yeah,” Forgot shivered. “She told me when she… propositioned me… for about the eighth time.”

“I swear, that creature,” Dinky sighed. “Anyway, I’m on my way to the market to help Custard before the poor filly freaks out too much. Could you run and fetch her and bring her there?”

“Um, sure?” Forgot didn’t want to, but didn’t want to say no either.

“Chrysalis?” Xander grumbled. “It should be fine, she knows she can’t replace you with your life gem in place. I’ll get you later for what we were talking about.”

“Um, sure?” Forgot was caught up in the flow of events at this point, so could only nod.

Dinky left again before Xander even finished talking, so Forgot galloped to where he knew Chrysalis was.

POV: Chrysalis

Chrysalis woke up, not from sleep, but from her morning memory sphere viewing. In a way, tormenting herself with that sphere had become an addiction, but it definitely kept her mind on the plan.

It was a plan that she’d had plenty of time to flesh out, but required a gamble with how things would go. It had reached a point where it would either go into the final stretch, or fail miserably. Trinity was a wild card, because Chrysalis didn’t have a good understanding of what she was doing or why. Perhaps they’d find out soon.

She’d done a good job during her visits in Holder to keep up her insane act, making sure no one took her seriously. Or maybe she was actually crazy and just rationalizing a reason; not even she knew for sure.

In addition, there were an awful lot of ponies in Holder willing to let her feed in exchange for her shifting during sex. Once a good amount of ponies figured out that she wasn’t here to kill them, some decided that a freebie with her beat paying at the PUB. She’d tried to show restraint so as to not compete with the local hive, but it wasn’t easy. She’d become used to mostly feeding on one particular pony, and as amazing as that pony was, having a tasteful variety here was more fun than she remembered.

“Miss Chrysalis!” there was a sudden banging on the door of her inn room as someone called for her.

She recognized the voice as that of ‘Forgot’, a newer resident than even her. It was surprising that he’d be here, given most of their interactions so far had been her pranking him by turning into scary robots and creepily following him around. She knew he wasn’t coming to fuck, since he ran screaming whenever she asked him to.

“Oh-ho?” Chrysalis opened the door with her magic as she rolled out of bed. “Did you take a break from boning your favorite corpse to come see me? I heard she had heaters surgically implanted to keep her holes warm for you.”

“Huh?” Forgot tilted his head. “Boning? I didn’t mess with Dinky’s exposed bones in any way, honest! …And um, Dinky told me to get you, or I wouldn’t be here. That Midnight pony everyone is scared of is in the market demanding to see you. Everyone is really freaking out over it… me too, so I’m going to hide until she’s gone.”

“Oh, her,” Chrysalis rolled her eyes. It had been only a matter of time before Midnight got time to check on her here, as the changeling wasn’t being her normal secretive self. It didn’t worry her; in fact she’d looked forward to it, as she was pretty sure of how this would go. She might even get in good with the local hive if she played her cards right.

Chrysalis didn’t waste time walking, instead just tossing on her Luna-skin pelt and then teleporting the short hop from her room to the marketplace. She teleported Forgot with her, despite his stated intent to hide, giving her a bit of enjoyment as he immediately fled the scene. If she occasionally did things just to be mean, maybe fewer ponies would refer to her as ‘reformed’. What a disgusting word.

When she arrived at the market, she found Midnight waiting, though more patiently than she expected. The alicorn had seated herself at an outside table of one of the restaurants, scarfing down hay burgers at an alarming rate. Terrified cooks in the nearby restaurant could be seen frantically cooking more.

Kamikaze laid against her, looking sexy with her shiny new legs, but seeming a little uncomfortable. She had clearly eaten some hayburgers, but more remained on her plate, and belched lightly as she stared at how Midnight scarfed down her own, looking quite impressed by the ferocity. Midnight had one of her hooves reaching over to rub Kamikaze’s thighs, and Kami looked to have given up on pushing it away.

Custard was there too, since she had to be, as the new ‘rock sovereign’ in training. She poured Midnight tea with such shaky hooves that it was a wonder any of it made it into the teacup. Midnight seemed delighted at the poor foal’s horror, and Chrysalis had to admit it was amusing. When finished, Custard took a few steps back from the table, then turned as if she might sneak off.

“Excuse me,” Midnight said to Custard while swallowing a whole hayburger and levitating the filly to be snout to snout with her. “Did I say you could go?”

“But um…” Custard started. “I gotta pee.”

“We have empty cups, and it would entertain me anyway, little miss…what was it again…Cus-” Midnight suddenly let out a clearly-intentional large belch that sent bits of hayburger all over the filly’s face. “-tard, the tasty dessert?” she finished the intimidating question with a smile while setting her down on the table. “Have a seat. I need you within eating range if Chrysalis isn’t here by the time I finish.”

“I know you love scaring things, and I know I’ve been all for it at times,” Kamikaze said. “But keep in mind traumatizing the future leader of your important rock farm might not exactly help production. So no eating or squirting in the squirt please.” It seemed she tried to keep her from going too far in a way Midnight would understand, but Kamikaze was the only one that could have said it so frankly and not worried about being on the nom menu herself.

The teary-eyed Custard went to seat herself atop the table, looking nervously down at her hooves as they played together.

“When did you become such a bore?” smirked Chrysalis at Kamikaze. Clearly ‘fixing’ her programming had done her no favors. “Sadly, I’m here though, so no filly fondue today either way, as if there’d even be room with how you gorge on this junk.”

“I knew you couldn’t hide forever!” Midnight laughed maniacally, going from zero to ham in an instant, standing so suddenly that the table overturned. The remaining burgers and tea fell to the ground as Custard screamed and dove off the table. Midnight stood tall and glared at Chrysalis, while Kamikaze fell over.

Kamikaze gently grabbed the shaking Custard before she started a shrieking fit, sitting on the ground and pulling her into her lap. She whispered something that seemed to calm the filly down while head patting her.

“Tsk,” Chrysalis said. “You act like you found me hiding under a bed or something. I came as soon as I was told you were here. Did you think I’d be frightened?”

“It’s a safe assumption to make,” Midnight said somewhat matter-of-factually, taken off guard that her aura wasn’t having the desired effect on Chrysalis. Emotional manipulation wasn’t particularly effective on emotion eaters. “I assume then that you have a reason that I shouldn’t kill you prepared.”

“You kno-uh, Chrysalis is only here because Watcher told us to keep her here,” Kamikaze stammered while patting the blushing Custard affectionately. Calming the filly down so successfully just further underscored what a bore Kamikaze now was. “Heh, honestly, kinda uh, figured you knew already. Some evil overlord...”

“No need to play hard to get,” Midnight growled at Kamikaze, more flirtatiously than threatening. “You could just play hard.”

“She never plays hard to get with me,” Chrysalis waved a hoof to keep Midnight’s attention on herself. “She’s very enthusiastic in bed.”

Kamikaze smirked rather than contradict Chrysalis’ obvious lie. She then adopted a somewhat nervous expression as if to sell the lie just to give Midnight a hard time. Okay, maybe she wasn’t entirely boring.

Midnight momentarily froze, showing she was definitely unused to this kind of reception, but then grabbed Kami in her magic and slammed her face-up onto Midnight’s seat and roughly sat down on her chest, knocking the wind out of her, leaving Custard to fall off, dazed.

Chrysalis giggled at the pegasus’ punishment, knowing how Midnight treated even ponies she liked. She giggled even harder when the flustered Custard took the distraction as a chance to slink awkwardly towards the nearby outhouse with her tail tucked between her legs.

Midnight glared at Chrysalis again. “I didn’t think you’d be so annoying, but at least you have adequate fashion sense.” They were both wearing alicorn pelts after all, and it didn’t seem to bother Midnight that Chrysalis’ pelt belonged to her old mentor. Of course it wouldn’t, Midnight would have never kept control if her mentor was still able to interfere.

“Look, I’ll cut right to the chase,” Chrysalis decided she’d had enough fun. “I’m only here to assist with the mission against Trinity. I don’t appreciate having my hive countermanded by her failed science project.”

“Yet, you’re helping a different failed science project by doing so,” Midnight looked her in the eyes, angrier the more Chrysalis refused intimidation.

“Yes, yes,” Chrysalis sighed as things got side-tracked again. “We can both agree that Starlight #2 is too unstable to be useful long term, but it’s not an issue, as she’s more a threat to herself than either of us.”

“Hmmph,” Midnight growled, giving up on terrifying Chrysalis, and instead sitting back down, carefully onto Kamikaze’s slightly-scared-looking muzzle so that her nostrils would just barely stick out from under Midnight’s tail. She righted the table with her magic, going so far as to put the tea back into the cup, and stuffed her face with another burger. She continued with her muzzle full. “Get to the point.”

“Finally,” Chrysalis smiled. “Put simply, I believe that you have Trinity’s changelings in your ranks. While I don’t know exactly which ones without getting closer, I’m quite sure.”

Midnight grumbled and peered at Chrysalis. “Watcher said Trinity can’t get them that far from the Ministry yet.”

“I’m sure Watcher did,” smirked Chrysalis. “And I may have even provided Watcher that information for fear of what would happen to them if they were outed within your ranks by you. However, I’ve examined the sprite-bot network and found that Trinity’s hive-link is being piggybacked on it with an encrypted channel, meaning it can reach anywhere within range of one.”

“And of course we can’t take down the network without drawing Skyla into the conflict,” grumbled Midnight. “So why tell me now? I’m assuming you offer your services in exchange for something. That’s usually the reason people approach me of their own free will.”

“How perceptive,” Chrysalis nodded. “I can easily find them if I am in person at your base. You can keep me under constant guard, but I need to be there to find them.”

“And here comes the catch,” Midnight said, before scarfing down her whole cup of tea, crunching down the tea cup too, and belching.

After returning from her very quick break, Custard very nervously came over and placed another tea cup on the table, which she filled while listening. She then carefully went behind Midnight to look at Kamikaze’s snout with a look of concern, as if taking a moment to make sure she could still breath under there, but soon recoiled in disgust, probably having seen Kami was fine but enjoying things more than she’d like to let on.

“Any changelings I find will be turned over to me,” said Chrysalis. “I will separate them from Trinity’s hive, and provide you with the information on her that I obtain from questioning, but they are to leave with me without being harmed or experimented on. Exceptions will be made if some wish to join your ranks in thanks for sparing them, which some will rather than go with me, but they are still not to be harmed.”

Midnight peered. Clearly she didn’t like the deal, but had everything to gain by cooperating. It was a deal that Chrysalis couldn’t have convinced her of at any other time, but now that Midnight was desperate for help…

“I don’t know why you are so sure we have changelings,” Midnight said while grunting and shifting her weight atop Kamikaze, making a smacking and sputtering sound indicating Kami must be doing something down there. “After all, if they are there, they could have used the information they gained to destroy us long ago.”

“I’m sure because I know Trinity can,” said Chrysalis. “And if she can, she has. The reason why they have not taken distinct action, and why they are kept separate from her mutant forces, is two things I hoped to learn from them, not to mention if there’s a specific link between her and the sprite-bot network that can be destroyed. Honestly, Trinity should have overran you long ago; it’s like she’s occasionally setting herself back on pur-.”

“And if there are no changelings in our ranks?” Midnight asked, her face tightening in anger at the implication that Trinity could have already.

“Yes, yes,” snorted Chrysalis. “If it turns out to be hogwash, punish me. But one more thing… this deal applies to any changelings I find anywhere, whether they be Trinity’s or not. You will not punish me, nor anyone else unrelated to Trinity, for hiding them up until now. I’ll provide you with any useful information they have, but they are to stay under my protection and should not be revealed or harmed should they not directly oppose you.”

“Very well,” sighed Midnight. “Assuming you can ferret out spies in my ranks, I will agree to turn over all changelings to your care, unharmed. I reserve the right to cancel this deal, however, if I find that you have a positive relation to Trinity. Similarly, sparing them relies on them doing nothing more to oppose me after you free them.”

“Agreed,” Chrysalis smiled. “Which means the changelings currently living in Holder but not serving Trinity will not be bothered by you.”

Midnight blinked, then slowly started to chuckle, starting soft and eventually getting even louder than the moist sounds coming from beneath her. “Heh…heh…aah…mmm, yes, I know which ones you mean now…so that’s why they’re so good at what they do. If you’re right that Trinity’s reach is greater than I believed, I’ve truly been ruling out too many.”

It felt good to surprise Midnight so immediately after the deal. Fortunately, she was the only one in earshot currently that didn’t already know about the hive.

“If you would,” Chrysalis turned to Custard, who was rather slack-jawed at the turn of events. “Let the non-Trinity hive in town know that they are now under protection and that Midnight will not harm them so long as they do not oppose her. Let them know that they still aren’t expected to interact with me, I will continue to protect them regardless.”

Midnight rolled her eyes while the sounds from Kamikaze became more akin to slurping. “As if I wasn’t protecting them before as part of this city. I might even visit them since you got my curiosity peaked, maybe no longer forbade my minions from visiting too. I’ll be careful not to break any of them permanently though.”

Chrysalis grumbled, supposing going there to partake was the only way Midnight had left to torment them without breaking the agreement. She supposed it’d have to do.

“Well then,” Chrysalis continued to Custard. “I’ll be checking in around 2 pm each day at the statue in town, to see if the others have arrived back yet. I suspect they’ll want to start the mission quickly when they do.”

“I-I think it’ll still be a while,” Custard said, but nodded.

“I suspect they’ll return more suddenly than anticipated,” Chrysalis smirked, then turned to Midnight. “Time for us to head to Midnight Castle, yes?”